4 ms·

I have a great counterpoint quote from Edward Abbey: "One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-t

I have a great counterpoint quote from Edward Abbey: "One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."

notRobot 4y ago
Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but that seems complementary to Watterson's quote, not a counter to it?
- xeromal 4y ago
  Same. Maybe they just used counterpoint incorrectly? Misunderstanding?
  - maroonblazer 4y ago
    Or maybe they're a musician, and are using the musical definition of 'counterpoint', where a melody is played with another melody and together they harmonize.
    - dougmwne 4y ago
      Indeed I was using this definition of the word, and quite purposefully as there are both complementary and contrasting elements. Online discussion is biased towards the "argumentative" so sometimes it helps to break people's expectations.
    - kalimanzaro 4y ago
      Or maybe they are a continental European, who, of American writings, appreciate mostly the rustic type-- and be stranger to usages of "kontrapunkt" outside of a high art context
dQw4w9WgXcQ 4y ago
> hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space I like to keep in mind this romantic i MaDe tRaVeLinG a LifEstYle BS is enabled by the folks who are typically working their asses off in shit jobs like grocery, warehousing, manufacturing, supply chains, transportation, hospitality, etc. If everyone suddenly stopped their work to pursue this nonsense we'd all quickly find ourselves in a non-enjoyable situation. Life enjoyment is a societal gift offered by the margins of collective suffering. Sure, take your breaks where you need but keep in mind life enjoyment, retirement, etc. are all tremendous blessings and not entitlements.
- imgabe 4y ago
  If you had a job that paid well enough for you to take off and travel and enjoy your life, then you just opened up one more well paying job for someone else (who might be stepping up from one of those shit jobs). The greedier thing would be to stay on and suck up more and more resources that you don't need and don't even make you happy.
  - dQw4w9WgXcQ 4y ago
    > you just opened up one more well paying job > stay on and suck up more and more resources As opposed to creating more value and enabling the company to hire 5-7 more team members? Maybe you view yourself as a zero-sum resource-suck, but I typically multiply what my company does through new ideas and creative pursuits.
    - imgabe 4y ago
      You don't need the permission of some company to create value, have new ideas, or pursue creativity. Corporate profits are not necessarily the same thing as value. Showing ads 0.1% more effectively is not making the world a better place.

notRobot 4y ago

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but that seems complementary to Watterson's quote, not a counter to it?

xeromal 4y ago
Same. Maybe they just used counterpoint incorrectly? Misunderstanding?
- maroonblazer 4y ago
  Or maybe they're a musician, and are using the musical definition of 'counterpoint', where a melody is played with another melody and together they harmonize.
  - dougmwne 4y ago
    Indeed I was using this definition of the word, and quite purposefully as there are both complementary and contrasting elements. Online discussion is biased towards the "argumentative" so sometimes it helps to break people's expectations.
  - kalimanzaro 4y ago
    Or maybe they are a continental European, who, of American writings, appreciate mostly the rustic type-- and be stranger to usages of "kontrapunkt" outside of a high art context

dQw4w9WgXcQ 4y ago

> hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space I like to keep in mind this romantic i MaDe tRaVeLinG a LifEstYle BS is enabled by the folks who are typically working their asses off in shit jobs like grocery, warehousing, manufacturing, supply chains, transportation, hospitality, etc. If everyone suddenly stopped their work to pursue this nonsense we'd all quickly find ourselves in a non-enjoyable situation. Life enjoyment is a societal gift offered by the margins of collective suffering. Sure, take your breaks where you need but keep in mind life enjoyment, retirement, etc. are all tremendous blessings and not entitlements.

imgabe 4y ago
If you had a job that paid well enough for you to take off and travel and enjoy your life, then you just opened up one more well paying job for someone else (who might be stepping up from one of those shit jobs). The greedier thing would be to stay on and suck up more and more resources that you don't need and don't even make you happy.
- dQw4w9WgXcQ 4y ago
  > you just opened up one more well paying job > stay on and suck up more and more resources As opposed to creating more value and enabling the company to hire 5-7 more team members? Maybe you view yourself as a zero-sum resource-suck, but I typically multiply what my company does through new ideas and creative pursuits.
  - imgabe 4y ago
    You don't need the permission of some company to create value, have new ideas, or pursue creativity. Corporate profits are not necessarily the same thing as value. Showing ads 0.1% more effectively is not making the world a better place.